These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined

That's the second time I've used that quote, the first is from IMWI in 2005. So what does that mean? It means I have a race number for Ironman Lake Placid: 279. There are 130 guys in my age group. I will be racing none of them (until the last few miles if there are any still around).